Spiritual Wellness In Marriage

Introduction:

In a month or so many of us will be planting our gardens. Mainly talking about flowers, what is the difference between a perennial and an annual? Perennial= having a life cycle lasting more than two years. Annual= living only one growing season.

In our lives are we planting annuals or perennials. In the view of eternity are our lives filled with annuals or perennials?

In our lives there are a lot of temporary things. Scrapbook filled with pictures, relationships that were beautiful for a while- and then were no more.

Experiences, accomplishments that were enjoyable for a season- and then they were gone or no longer satisfying. A lot of temporary, a lot of annuals. The longer we live the more tired we get of temporary. We want something perennial, eternal.

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV.

World is searching for peace and satisfaction but so many times they look at annual things, not eternal. God has created us with this vacancy inside that can only be filled with something eternal- with something that has no ending. Hole in our heart that will not go away

Friendships end, romances end, even marriages- by death or divorce, end. Every pleasure ends, every experience ends. Our heart gets tired of saying again, “It’s over.” God made us for something perennial- something that is never over. Only something eternal can fill the hole in our hearts.

Read John 4:7-18

Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. Annual thing.

Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst- a perennial thing.

Jesus then asks her to bring her husband so he can tell him about these things.

Here is where the woman is searching for satisfaction, in annual things, and not perennial things. 5 husbands and now living with another man.

None of her relationships lasted. Don’t know exactly but her problem was that she was looking for something perennial in the wrong place. No earth relationship can ever satisfy the eternity appetite in our hearts.

This is why the woman is so excited and intrigued by this man Jesus. He is offering her something that is not temporary but eternal. Love and satisfaction that never die.

A Christian is to be focused on eternal things, perennials. A Christian is to be different from this world because he has found and understands that this earth is temporary. He lives for God. “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives for ever.” 1 John 2:17, NIV.

The Bible makes it plain that a Christian is not to marry a non Christian. Why? Because the Christian has eternal things on his mind. The non Christian just has annuals. Different outlook, different beliefs, different culture, different mind.

From Matthew 19, Jesus says that a husband and wife are joined by God. However, if the husband and wife are not focused on God, with eternity, then being joined is not that important. Can always get someone better.

Being one flesh means one in heart and soul and body. Achieving unity is impossible without the power of Jesus. Romans 6 teaches us that unity with Christ creates a new person. This new person can then achieve unity with another human being. The joys of a good marriage are based on a biblical relationship with Christ that has rewards in this life and beyond!

Not concerned with eternal things, we will not be concerned about until death due us part.

Need a third party. “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12, NIV.

Augustine- You have made us for yourself, and our souls are restless until they rest in You.

Thesis: How can we be spiritually well?

For instances:

1. Don’t look to things of this world to give us satisfaction and fill us

The wisdom of the world tells us we must search and find our own purpose.

How have people fared by finding their own purpose? Annual things. Broken relationships, scarred lives, emptiness, loneliness, shattered dreams, substance abuse.

The great things is that our hunger and restlessness can be satisfied. Not by people, possessions, or money- but only by being filled with God’s presence and having a relationship with Him. We were made to live eternally, make to live in a relationship with God. Someone who is above us and beyond us to give us purpose.

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. ” Psalms 42:1, 2, NIV.